Tony and Mario

I was high today to meet my brother/soul mate Mario Mariani the big pot guy. He fires a big bottle kiln with a firebox the size of my house. He pushes the wood back into the firebox with a large hoe attached to his fork lift. He said he has been married to clay and never divorced. He makes pots without a wheel but they are absolutely symmetrical. He digs the clay from the back yard and processes mountains of clay in his hammer mill and mixer. Hey Dan check out these handles he makes in these press moulds.  I wish I were 27 again so I could work with this dude for a year or so. The pottery and the facility harkens back to medieval times. The technical safety standards crew would shut him down in a heart beat but he is an Italian living treasure. I would love to see Mr. Jin from China and Mario on stage together. They would be speaking the same language -the language of clay. There would be a respect for each other that most us would recognize as a brotherhood of hard work, heart ache and love of process.  Today was my best day in Italy.